What It Actually Is
It is a community-run annual event where players attempt to defeat every in-game boss within a rolling 365-day window, tracking progress on a shared spreadsheet. There is no official FromSoftware involvement. The rules are loose by design and get adjusted slightly year to year, which is why the forums are full of people arguing about edge cases. The basic format is straightforward. You log each boss kill with a timestamp. The window starts when you claim your slot on the tracker. Some entries require soul remnants, some don't. The current year's rulebook says that optional bosses like Dragonlord Placidusax and Maliketh are required, but the Four Bells spell NPCs are not. That is the version most people are running. You need a few things before you touch the game. First, grab the current year's rulesheet from the Discord announcements channel. The spreadsheet link is always pinned there. Second, pick your start date and record it down. Third, make sure you have a method for timestamped proof that works for the bosses you find tricky.
I started my first attempt in March because the spring meta run tends to be cleanest. I burned through Malenia by using bleed builds instead of going pure magic, which saved me roughly two weeks of healing spell spamming. The key insight nobody talks about is that the order you tackle bosses matters more than people admit. Do the early-game lords before the late-game ones while your build is still flexible, because once you commit to a specific weapon scaling for Messmer or Godfrey, you lock yourself out of certain shortcut strategies for earlier encounters.
The Tracking System
The tracker uses a Google Sheet with columns for boss name, date, build, deaths, and a screenshot or replay link column. Every entry needs proof. Screenshots work for most bosses, but the game does not reliably save post-boss screenshots in some co-op-involved runs, so I switched to using the in-game legacy dungeons save points as my timestamp anchor when something felt finicky. One specific problem I ran into was with Dung Eater. The game counts him as a main boss in the data, but the spreadsheet team debated whether the pre-Miranda version or the final variant counted. I used the version that drops the key item with the seed, because that is the one consistently flagged in replays, and I attached a screenshot showing the key item acquisition screen. It got approved without back-and-forth.
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Common Pitfalls
The biggest mistake I see is people starting the clock before they have a complete list of required bosses. The rulebook changes slightly each year, and last year someone missed that Lichdragon Fortissax became mandatory when the patch note dropped mid-cycle. They spent three weeks trying to argue for a waiver and lost time they could not get back. Another issue is build rigidity. A lot of players pick one loadout at month one and never adjust it. That works until you hit Radahn, whose gravity mechanics punish fixed positioning. I recommend rotating builds every eight to twelve weeks, especially if you are still months away from the endgame lords.
What Does Not Work
Speedrunning strategies do not translate well here. The yearly format rewards consistency over optimality. You will fail faster if you attempt risky techniques on bosses you have never fought before. The event is a marathon, not a sprint, and the tracker logs deaths as part of the entry, so stacking unnecessary difficulty only hurts your standing. Co-op can count depending on the year's rules, but summoning other players changes the boss stats and can disqualify the kill if the rules specify solo-only for certain lords. Always check the current sheet before inviting anyone. I learned that the hard way with Rennala, when a summon boosted her spell damage and the admin flagged the entry as ineligible for the solo count.
The Download and Access
There is no standalone download. The event lives entirely in the community Discord and the shared Google Sheet. You join the server, read the pinned rules, and add your name to the participant column. The spreadsheet is the only tool you need, and the Discord handles disputes, clarifications, and updates. If a new rule version drops mid-year, the admins pin an amendment and everyone adjusts from that point forward. The tracker link for the current year is posted in the #rules-and-updates channel. Copy it before you start, because the public version sometimes gets locked to editing once the first wave of entries comes in, and you do not want to be chasing permissions on day two.
A Few Practical Tips
Keep a separate notes doc alongside the sheet. Write down which ashes of war, talismans, and flasks you used for each boss. You will forget, and having that data saves you from reinventing a successful build when you circle back to a boss you struggled with earlier. Do not attempt every required boss in a single sitting. I used to play through two or three major lords in one session and end up burning out by week three. Three to four days per boss with rest days in between keeps your error rate lower and your timestamps cleaner. If you hit a wall on a specific fight, check the Discord. Other participants often share alternative strategies that worked for their entries. This is one of the few cases where asking for help is actually part of the process rather than a shortcut that undermines the event.
